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The Kerf ami Black. RcdnvMiuy. March 24, I rill
LYNN PLANKENHORN
Where I'm usually not
Editorials
The Red and Black
Backward step
We believe that Gov. George
Busbee has made a grievous
mistake with his latest legisla
tion.
Last Thursday, Busbee signed
into law a bill which grants the
Board of Regents (as a body)
immunity from lawsuits, protec
tion which was already afforded
to all other state agencies,
Busbee said.
Had this law been in effect last
summer, professors in the Uni
versity System of Georgia could
well be without their five per
cent pay raises which were
recently reinstated.
The University professors filed
suit against the regents to reco
ver their raises which were cut
from the system budget last
Down
Monday afternoon, Lt. Gov.
Zell Miller said he would not
seek the vacant Ninth District
U S. congressional seat. Rumor,
which had been heavy recently,
placed Miller as a leading can
didate for the seat in 1976
But his statement revealed his
value of his present position in
the state. “I believe I have a
contract with the people of
Georgia to serve for four years,”
Miller said, ‘‘and 1 intend to
honor that contract.”
June, and the Georgia Supreme
Court awarded the professors
their raises.
From now on, no such recourse
to justice is possible. The regents
can’t be sued for anything.
‘‘To put a university system
on an equivalent standing with a
state government office is highly
unusual,” Rolf Bargmann, pres
ident of the University chapter of
the American Association of
•University Professors, said of
the new law.
Besides putting the University
system on a line-item budget
(every expense must be minutely
detailed), it puts all who have a
legal beef with the regents in a
dangerous spot—almost an im
possible one.
home
Miller still could have occupied
his position and campaigned
from there, but as we can tell
from certain Alabama and Geor
gia governors who have done
likewise, that can often be a
dangerous draining process.
Miller has been a positive
force in one of Georgia’s most
pragmatic administrations ever,
and his decision to maintain full
time duties is a smart one, and
best for the people and the state.
It's a ritual every spring to celebrate
the arrival of that heralded and magical
season. First the students begin to get
restless las the natives do in late night
movies). Wafting across campus you can
hear Bacchanalian
revelries as students
forget classes and
concentrate on ush
ering in a period of
warmth and sun
Next the students
begin to wander
aimlessly around
campus in topless
vehicles (and some begin to wander
around vehicles almost topless) They
also tend to ingest large amounts of
liquid in case they have run out of brew
Saturday night and face dehydration on
Sunday.
But this is all leading up to the most
socially prestigous event, not only of the
season but of the year. The students
begin loading up cars and taking pep pills
so they can catch the first rays of sun in
those lands of realtor's dreams—the
beach.
The name itself is unimposing, but for
many students "the beach" for spring
break is an experience equalling or
surpassing such events as birth, marri
age and even the “first time."
Part of the beach mystique has been
built up through those classics of the
screen—beach movies. One of the all
time greats was on television last
Monday night Where the Boys Are
embodies all the formula scenes from
following movies (it was one of the first
Lynn Plankenhnrn is executive editor of
The Red and Black
of its genre) while adding enough class to
the production that it obviously wasn't
imitative.
It was the lines from the movie which
made it memorable, and Where the Boys
Are had all the lines which make me
blase about missing spring fun in the sun
The introduction began with such lines
as “when college students invade” and
“colleges all over the country disgorge
their students." The small peaceful town
of Fort Lauderdale became a cross
between the sidewalks of Bourbon Street
during Mardi Gras and Athens streets on
sunny afternoons.
The police chief instructed his men to
"Try to avoid arresting anyone. Preserve
your sense of humor."
Students from the cold, snowy north
tried to talk each other into going to the
sunny beaches of Florida. One argued
“I'm behind in every class, have tests
and two term papers to do.” Her friend
reassured her, "Oh, you can do it down
there." How many times has every
student heard that line?
But everything was explained and the
discussion of going or staying was settled
with the exclamation, “It's spring vaca
tion.”
Later, when the characters reach
Florida, one girl explains another’s
smoking with, “It's the tropics, every
body goes to pieces in the tropics.”
Of course the above is all reason to
head on out for the land of beaches—
Florida. However, there were other parts
of the movie which made me feel a little
bit better about the continuous lading of
my tan from last summer despite my
having had my one and only exam on
Monday
For example, the line “Girls like me
weren't built to be educated, w* were
built to have babies. I want to be a
walking, talking baby factory" would
have probably caused me to roll around
so much from laughing I would have
looked like my burning skin was on a
rolisserie if I had overheard (hat remark
Another inflammatory remark was
smugly uttered by a man on the make:
"Experience—that's what separates the
girls from the girl scouts "
Somehow, I have a feeling that if I
ever make the great trek to the sea,
those latter comments are the type I'll
overhear Being a so-so feminist. 1 find
them rather infuriating. The attitude of
heading for the beach in order to snare a
man seems almost as dated as the outfits
in the 1960 beach movie.
That is one of the two reasons I do not
have a craving for the beach I dislike
seeing a bunch of girls (in this case I
refuse to use the term women) running
around like they do in ail of the beach
movies looking for a Frankie Avalon.
You see, my common sense and my
romantic movie influenced nature are in
disagreement. However, they both agree
that the beach will probably not be what
I expect.
Really, all the above is a salve for my
wounded spirits because I, like other
poor, deprived students, just hung around
during break My eyes are still slightly ’
dilated from the number of movies I saw
on TV while home, but my skin is as pale
as ever. ^
Of course I do get dark every now and
then—a lovely green from looking at
bronzed creatures who fulfilled or at- ,
tempted to fulfill the dreams instilled by
years of beach movies. But the color goes
away when I think they surely couldn't
have heard one of the last lines of Where
the Boys Are.
“Do you love me, Ryder?" "I think
so." "Do I love you, Ryder?" "1 hope
so." Then they wandered off into the full
moon.
With my luck the moon would have
been a crescent and the beach would be
under the tide.
fit* Till*; HKI» AND BLACK
Steve Burns, Editor
Lynn Plankenhorn, Mike Millions,
Executive editor Business manager
Joyia Anthony and Sandi Martin, news editors; Patricia Templeton and
Nancy Unkles, associate news editors; Lila Moore, feature editor; Matt
Federspiel, sports editor: Melita Easters, copy editor; Jim Galloway, city
editor; Robert Alexander, state editor; Debbie Dance and Anne Jervey,
LOOKOUT editors: Bob Lyon, chief photographer; Mark Prevail, wire
editor; Kandy Burroughs, art director; Jane McAlister, production manager
STEVE BURNS
The frightening job market
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By the time you're 21 years old, you
figure you have left behind most of your
childish habits in diligent pursuit of
responsible adulthood.
No more marathon partying, staying
up all night, binges of junk foods,
cruising in the afternoon, and fanatical
adherence to Top 40 music and inane
television sitcoms, right?
Young adults with their lives turned
towards an existence in the capitalistic
marketplace should have long forgotten
such diversions. They should be in calm
control of themselves and their desires.
With almost all of preparatory education
and parental guidance having become a
habit, the young human animal should be
a model of confidence, pride, faith and
other such virtues, right?
He should be of the thought that his
new life will get off to a brilliant start
and simply breeze through any hard
ships. After all, can't a middle class.
letiersr:ieiters
'J-zone is always wide open'
TO THE EDITOR:
I smiled when I read the brief note in
The Red and Black (March 11) that
Marvin E. Van Vleck. in his infinite
wisdom and compassion, had decided
that students may park their automobiles
in any student zone after 3:00 without
receiving parking citations No, let me be
honest; I didn't smile, I laughed outright.
It's common knowledge among those
with J-zone parking permits and appar
ently among a wonderously large seg
ment of others, that anyone may park a
car in J-zone at any time without
receiving a citation
An average of more than fifty students,
with an occasional faculty member
thrown in for good measure, have done so
daily for at least the past two years To
be sure, one encounters a certain risk
during the initial three or four days of
each quarter, but once this obstacle has
been overcome it's smooth sailing More
over, not even a University parking
permit of any kind is required, an old
ATO, Delta Chi, or Kappa Sigma decal is
sufficient.
You may suspect that this practice
causes occasional difficulty for those
students holding J-aone parking permits,
expecially when they must park their
cars out of zone (Parking regulations,
you see. are enforced in some zones l
But Van Vleck, exhibiting the intellec
tual brilliance which has come to
characterize the University administra
lion, replies that all students pay an
equal transportation fee Lacking Van
Vleck's acuity, I have never quite under
stood why the same argument is not
equally valid for those who must park
their cars out of zone in other areas.
Perhaps it's true that all students are
equal but some students are more equal
than others
JIM CORNISH
'Black material
not racist'
TO THE EDITOR:
Jackie Clark's review of the Black
Theatrical Ensemble was quite impres
sive But towards the end, she completely
"missed the boat."
First of all, how could our material be
called “racist?" These were "real”
events in the black experience and if
anything just reflected the racism in
American society. Next, not being a part
of the black experience herself, she was
not able to understand the Ballad of Nico
Tardy which she said was done only to
stir the audience
However, the blacks in the audience
did get the message: No matter how
much slatus and money you accumulate
as a black, you're still black and that
cannot be transcended She missed this
point altogether.
Lastly. Clark is guilty of libel when she
used the word "hate" saying that we said
that we've got "over 20,000 while people
to hate " The word hale was nowhere in
our dialogue and again she missed our
point. The quote was that "when you've
got over 20.000 white people to talk about,
why backstab and slander each other's
name." which is very different from
what she had to say (It was almost as if
she heard what she wanted to heari. Our
cry was not one of hate for whites but of
black harmony.
All in all. from this review, it goes to
show that some white critics do not
possess all of the tools to evaluate black
theatre. Nonetheless, we’U be back
spring quarter
THE BLACK THEATRICAL ENSEMBLE
'Brubeck review
insults musicians'
TO THE EDITOR:
First, the reference to Dave Brubeck
as an old man of 56 in Sandy Evans'
review of "The Gates of Justice” is an
insult to him in particular and profession
al musicians in general.
Second, saloons have mean piano
players 1 have read many reviews and
articles on Brubeck. and never before
have I heard such a pedestrian term used
in reference to him
Third, the acoustics in the "new"
auditorium are not as good as the review
would indicate Many of the words were
unclear, particularly towards the stage
Other problems not mentioned in the
review included occasional sectional im
balance and inconsistent meter (due to
the difficult score and through no fault of
Mr Arant's).
Fourth, only two of the jazz trio, pianist
Darius and drummer Danny, are Bru-
beck's sons. The bassist was Richard
Kilburn. as could have been determined
with a simple inquiry At any rate, their
names were on the back of the program.
Fifth, yes, Dave Brubeck is a profes
sional. That is why he has over 100
albums, has been a major musical
influence for 25 years and was paid
money to come here
Sixth, one tuba did not play the opening
shofar line. One French horn did.
I can well understand Evans' enthusi
asm; I also enjoyed the concerl im
mensely. But such an amateurish, fawn
ing treatment as the oratorio got in her
review does little to aid the reader's
appreciation of a complex and brilliant
artist.
itXMlX I DI IIS
semi-affluent childhood and a college
education cover all the bases?
I, like most of my
friends and fellow
seniors here, fit
neatly into that cate
gory. Good high
school background,
excellence in extra
curricular activity
here as well as fair
to good grades, and
contacts in the professional world, plus
being an all around nice guy. Wouldn’t
you hire someone like that, or help them
out, or something?
Not too many people will and that's
why I was gripped and overcome by a
most childish impulse last Sunday as I
returned to Athens; fear. Abject fear
This is my last quarter of school,
forever and ever. I know how to do little
else except go to school. I've been taking
tests, going to class and dealing in
educational survival since I was five
years old. In 10 weeks, I'll be through
Steve Burns is editor o( The Red and
Black
forever I haven't and won't consider
graduate school, at least not out of
desperation
I would really like to work, rare as that
may seem among people who don't really
have to plunge right into something
After 550 class days and countless outside
educational hours spent in earnest pre
paration, I wouldn't mind finding gainful
employment
Trouble is, I don't think it’s there, li e.,
gripped by fear). For the first time in my
life, I have no clear cut plans for my
future, and no one in the professional
world (or in the educational field, for that
matter i seems eager to remedy the
situation.
True, I'm limiting my efforts to one field,
one that isn't particularly booming at the
moment. Jobs are very tight in the mass
communications field, few are leaving
them, and the industry is not in what one
would call an expanding state The thing
that scares me is that I don't really
believe things are that much better for
any other graduate in another field.
Wait. now. I know the economy in
general is supposed to be on the upswing
I read where the Dow Jones average is
around 1000. that new car sales are
booming, that retail sales are climbing,
and lhal construction and home buying
are on the rise Don't think I'm being
bleak. I know the general economic
welfare is probably better than in some
time
But I just have this sinking feeling that
professional, specialized occupations are
becoming a thing of the past for most
people. Law schools are jammed with
qualified people when there are already
too many practicing attorneys Business
and corporate firms are not looking for.
analysts like they once were, and with
the economic trends of today, that's
something you can't possibly train your
self for.
Geology and medical school graduates
are in greater demand than ever, though
But for those of us with no more skill
than a liberal arts education, only a
select few (not necessarily the best, just
a select few) will attain immediate, short
range fulfillment.
I could be like my 21 year old cousin,
who got married last summer. He swore
he would finish his two remaining years
of undergraduate work and go on through
medical school while his wife supported
them. He has now dropped out, bought a
new car, and is working in a cafeteria.
Another friend of mine got married last
Saturday. She's not even going to work..
Her husband is in the Air Force (I
suppose that’s a noble alternative to my
woes).
But newspapers (ah, the irony) are.
crammed full of want ads every day, and
everyone who knows anything still main
tains "If you really want to work, you
can find a jolt." It just seems America is
redirecting itself toward mere wage
paying jobs instead of occupations and
professions Ph D.'s are becoming about
as valuable as used paper towels. I'll bet
it wouldn’t be that way if Americans
would just resist this trend; but then,
Americans aren’t much on collective
action in anything short of a world war
Oh, for the days of my youth, when all
I had to be scared of was scary movies,
the bully at school and reprisals if I
didn't eat all my dinner.
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